Abstract
What characterizes measurement with respect to generic evaluation? The representational model to measurement theory appears to underestimate this problem, which is of primary importance to justify the claimed objectivity of measurement. Indeed measurement has the two-fold nature of an empirical and a symbolic operation, so that both these components must be taken into account in its formalization, which should emphasize the central role played by measuring systems in qualifying the operative character of measurement. From this perspective the paper suggests that the peculiarities of measurement as a specific form of evaluation can be meaningfully interpreted in terms of the distinction between determination and assignment. After an analysis of the basic characteristics of these concepts and their relations, the paper describes a functional model of a measuring system and proposes a formalization for the concept of measurement that is based on such a model and specifies the representational point of view. Hence, measurement assumes the connotation of a homomorphic evaluation realized by means of a measuring system.